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The submission beat hundreds of other entries to be crowned the winner of the national competition. The judging panel for the competition included Britain’s first Storyteller laureate Taffy Thomas MBE and children’s author and former cBeebies presenter Cerrie Burnell.

The tale follows a grumpy, greedy squirrel who discovers the spirit of generosity from three wise trees as he learns to share what he has with the woodland creatures around him.

Celebrated children's illustrator Ian Beck, whose 35-year career includes the album art for Elton John’s classic Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, has been enlisted to hand-illustrate the story.

Since it’s release, the story has earned a flurry of five star reviews on Amazon.

Writing the story for his now six-month-old daughter, Anais, Mr Doodson said: “I hope readers will enjoy my re-invented tale reminding us about the true meaning of Christmas.

“The themes of redemption, repentance and forgiveness underpin the magic of this time of year and regardless of whether I won or not, I thought an uplifting take on the classic would be the perfect Christmas present for my daughter.”

A Christmas Squirrel is now available on Amazon (Image: Amazon EU)

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Alessio Santarelli, Amazon’s EU Kindle Content Director, said: “Mike’s story stood out for us as a particularly heart-warming tale. It’s interesting to learn that Mike kept his aspirations to be an author so quiet before entering the competition – we are thrilled to be able to celebrate his story as a new author using Kindle Direct Publishing this year.”

In addition to having his book illustrated, Mr Doodson - who now lives in Cheshire with his wife and daughter -also wins a £2,000 Amazon gift card and a marketing campaign to support the launch of his book - plus royalties.